Weekly Dvar Torah: The Struggle of A Chossid

Reb Mordechai Hatzadik became a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. He was a great Talmid Chochom and a Mekubal, and when he heard about the Besht and his miraculous wonders, he was told that the Besht was previously a simple man who was a teacher’s assistant, but that one day he threw off his fur-coat and became known as a great Torah scholar and a wonder maker. So he decided to check him out if not just out of curiosity.

Once the Besht taught the meaning of the Posuk in our Parsha (Mishpatim 23,5): כִּי תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַאֲךָ רֹבֵץ תַּחַת מַשָּׂאוֹ וְחָדַלְתָּ מֵעֲזֹב לוֹ עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב עִמּוֹ = If you see your enemy’s donkey lying under its burden would you refrain from helping him? You shall surely help along with him.

The Besht explained, the donkey is your body that is very materialistic, and it hates the spirituality of the soul. One must not consider punishing the coarse body by self-afflicting in order to weaken the materialism. The Torah way is to assist the body and guide him to do the right thing in a positive way.

The Besht concluded, to help a Jew materially or spiritually one must have self-sacrifice.

When Reb Mordechai heard this, he thought to himself, in my youth I was part of a trio, we were three friends in the great Yeshiva in Smargon, I was lucky to discover the Besht, but my friends, who knows what happened to them. I must go out to find them and introduce them to the Besht. Didn’t the Rebbe just teach us that one must have self-sacrifice to do a favor to another Jew?

But I have no clue as to where they are and how to find them, thought Reb Mordechai to himself, so I will have to leave my Rebbe for a while, that’s a serious sacrifice. And so he struggled deciding what to do. He had to do what the Rebbe taught, but he knew this would be at a great cost of having to leave the Rebbe for a while.

“Maybe I should ask the Rebbe what to do?”

“But that would be a real Chutzpah to ask the Rebbe if I should fulfil his teaching to help another Jew.”

“Since It is obligatory to ask the Rebbe permission before I leave, I must tell him anyway. When the Rebbe will ask me where I am going I will have to tell him the truth.”

He thought that was a good idea, because certainly the Rebbe will be able to direct me to their location and I will save much time not having to travel and search for them blindly. Then he thought of how foolish it is to use the Rebbe’s holy vision just to save me some work.

And so the dilemma kept Reb Mordechai busy thinking back and forth, if and how he should proceed in this mission of helping his good old friends find the Besht.

Finally, Reb Mordechai decided to go on his long difficult journey without notifying the Besht.

As he left town, the Shamash of the Besht caught up with him with a message from the Besht to come back to see him.

The Besht congratulated him; thank G-d that you won your inner war with yourself, go on your way, do not rush, wherever you pass by you will spread the new teachings of Chassidus, and you will be very successful. And to your two friends, I send a message: To Reb YIssachar Ber you should say that when he comes to me I will show him a path in learning that will open his mind. And to Reb Chaim you should say that I will show him a path in learning Zohar and Midrash that will open his heart.

For months Reb Mordechai travelled from city to village to find his friends. Reb YIssachar Ber, he was told had moved to Lubavitch (where he later became the teacher of the Alter Rebbe), Reb Chaim he found, after meeting a young boy who looked very familiar, and he identified his father as Reb Chaim. When Reb Mordechai realized that the boy may be the son of his old friend, he was told that his father was in Dubrovna.

In Dubrovna it took a while to locate Reb Chaim who had become a Porush (totally separated and disconnected from the material world). He was sitting and studying Torah in a Shtiebel at the end of town, never looking out of his four cubits. He would walk in the street with his eyes closed, and he fasted and self-afflicted his body not to benefit from this materialistic world. Reb Mordechai identified the Porush as his old friend Reb Chaim.

After some very long Torah discussions and strong efforts filled with lots of patience, Reb Mordechai won over his friend Reb Chaim and convinced him to go see the Besht. Ultimately the trio became part of the holy group of Tzadikim that were connected to the Besht and were great pillars of the new Chassidic movement.

All this happened because a Chossid heard a teaching of the Rebbe about the need to have Mesiras Nefesh to do a favor to another Jew, materially or spiritually. And a Chossid does what the Rebbe teaches.

A Chossid’s dilemma, he struggled and he won.

Have a supportive materialistic Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman